Forspoken: Complete Guide To Magic

Quick Links

  • Magic Basics
  • Frey's Magic
  • Sila's Magic
  • Prav's Magic
  • Olas's Magic

As a game that features a magic user as its main character, Forspoken has a complex and robust magic system that features more than 100 different spells to learn, use, and enhance. By the end of the game, Frey will be a master of the four elements: earth, fire, water, and air.

Frey needs to learn these spells gradually – even when she learns a new spell set, she only has a handful of new spells to use right away. By using mana, visiting special Founts scattered across Athia, and by progressing in Forspoken's storyline, Frey will earn the right to call herself a true sorceress.

Magic Basics

Once you unlock the ability to upgrade your magic, you may get intimidated by just how much choice you have available to you. Here's the basic rundown:

  • The right side of a spell tree is mostly made up of Attack Spells. These all come in three levels, and can be charged up to those levels in battle based on how long you hold the attack spell button. These are your main modes of offense.
  • The left side of spell tree has Support Spells and Surge Magic. Support Spells come in all sorts of forms, from attacks to buffs. Surge Magic is incredibly powerful and requires a separate gauge to be built up, which does so through using spells and getting hit.
  • Movement Spells are dotted throughout each spell set.
  • There are four spell sets that you'll unlock over the course of the game.
  • There are many spells that must be unlocked by diving into Founts, which you'll find all over the game world. Once you've unlocked one of these spells, you don't have to spend mana to obtain it. Check out our area guides to see which Founts grant which spells.

Early in the game, you'll unlock Spellcraft Challenges. These are small tasks that you complete by using your spells in certain ways, and completing them allows you to enhance those spells. This will make that spell better, but also grant Frey a permanent stat increase. These are well worth completing.

Frey's Magic

This is the spell set that you'll start the game with, unlocking during your first fight in Chapter 2. It is an earth-themed set of spells that strikes a balance between offense and defense. Frey's spells are consistently some of the most useful, applicable in a very wide variety of situations.

Frey's basic attack is a simple, linear shot. This attack can be used repeatedly, making it feel like a pistol from an FPS game. After a few hits, a larger projectile will be shot.

Attack Spells

  • Burst Shot is very simple and almost always effective. It fires a projectile that bursts into a ball of spikes upon impact, with higher levels creating far larger bursts of spikes. These are great for staggering enemies and even knocking them down, with enough luck. Of the three attack spells, this is the most adaptable and reliable.
  • Shield Shot creates a stone shield in front of Frey that can be used to defend, but also to attack. Releasing the attack button will make the shield burst outwards – it has a very short range, but if used to counter an incoming attack, can be deadly. This spell is rather situational, but with good timing, it's brilliant.
  • Scatter Shot has low damage but an incredibly high hit rate. In addition to this, it has the longest range of Frey's attacks. This makes it suited for taking out enemies from afar. After charging the shot, releasing the attack button releases a large stone projectile, but your mileage may vary with how useful you find it compared to Burst Shot.

Support Spells

  • Bind will tie enemies up for a while, which is great for either taking them out of the battle for a while or letting you get easy damage in with no fear of reprisal. Enhancing this spell to extend the duration is highly recommended.
  • Disperse is one of the most useful spells in the game. While it doesn't last long, this flower acts as a fantastically accurate turret while it's out and is the best answer to pesky flying enemies in the game.
  • Leach will heal poison. Since so many enemies in the game like to use poison, this is an important spell to get early.
  • Screen will improve Frey's defense for a while, protecting her from enemy attacks. This isn't as noticeable as other defensive spells, but it certainly useful for tougher fights.
  • Tendril is an area-of-effect attack that deals respectable damage and heals Frey based on the damage it deals. This is a fantastic tool for dealing with large groups of enemies.
  • Implant is a simple but effective move that deals damage over time. You can't go wrong with this – save it for the bulkier enemies in a fight.
  • Prime sets a trap that explodes when an enemy walks over it. The radius is surprisingly large, so don't neglect it – enemies are good at circumventing it, but luring them into the trap isn't too difficult.
  • Burrow will pick up all items in a certain radius without you having to be near them. It's a useful spell for traveling without wasting too much time. This radius is also vertical, so this is great for clearing out guilds without any hassle.

Movement Spells

  • Flow is automatically learned and is your main method of traversal.
  • Leap is a necessary part of your platforming moveset.
  • Shimmy gives you a great way to cover more distance with more speed and is even better when enhanced.
  • Cut and Run is a backward somersault with a very strong attack attached. Really great for movement.
  • Skip is an incredibly powerful movement ability that you will only learn during the final battle. You can use it in the postgame, however.

Passive Spells

  • Modify and Rarify let you mess around with your hoard of Breakshards more flexible, especially when enhanced. You probably don't need these on Normal mode, but they could be useful on Hard.
  • Vivify lets you increase the health granted by your necklace. Really good for Hard mode, but not necessary on lower difficulties.

Sila's Magic

You'll acquire Sila's Magic after finishing Chapter 5. It's a fire-themed spell set with a lot of offense-centric strategies. Many enemies are weak to Sila's Magic, so it's useful to learn how to use its hyper-offensive playstyle quickly. While other spell sets are better at dealing with groups, Sila's spell set is fantastic at dealing with singular foes.

Sila's basic attack is a slicing combo with a fiery sword. It's incredibly fast and quite powerful, so it's great for getting some damage in when a fully charged spell isn't the right call.

Attack Spells

  • Blast Slice is Sila's ranged attack spell – this spell lets you charge up a spear before throwing it. After a few seconds, the spear explodes, dealing damage to every enemy caught in the blast. This spell is good for dealing with clustered groups and any enemy you find too dangerous to take on at close-range.
  • Arc Slice is a wide sword slash perfect for taking on groups of enemies. It's a bit more reliable than Blast Slice, but you have to get closer to enemies to use it.
  • Rage Slice is a very aggressive melee combo attack that ends in a large explosion. It's very good for staggering and knocking down enemies, and many larger enemies don't really have the tools to defend against it.

Support Spells

  • Charge makes Frey rush forward and drive enemies back. It's a good spell for weaving into combos or opening a battle with.
  • Fusillade is great for battles where you're manually charging up spells a lot. The extra damage is good, too. It can be cast in the air without interrupting Frey's action much, so it's convenient.
  • Legion summons two fiery soldiers who will attack enemies autonomously. They don't meal much damage, but they can serve as great distractions in a hectic fight.
  • Aegis heals attack and defense debuffs, which is fantastic. When enhanced, it serves as an attack buffer, too. Definitely grab this spell.
  • Crucible is one of the best spells in the game. It summons a wall of fire which damages enemies and boosts your attack to boot. It can be used to control battlefields, separate bosses from their minions, and trivialize certain challenges.
  • Bombardier is a decent attack when used on smaller enemies, but it's slow.
  • Firetrap is a great way to add some hazards to the battlefield for enemies. Very large enemies will get hit multiple times, if you position it well.
  • Beacon improves your stamina regeneration rate but alerts enemies to your presence. Stamina doesn't regenerate slow enough to make this worth using.

Movement Spells

  • Zip is a crucial part of your movement kit. Learn how to use it as soon as you can.
  • Soar is fantastic for trivializing steep climbs and is necessary for some tasks.
  • Rush provides a decent speed boost, but Shimmy is more reliable.
  • Drag and Drop brings enemies to you, rather than moving Frey herself. It deals a good amount of damage, but you rarely want enemies to be closer.

Passive Spells

  • Amplify lets you boost the magic stats of your cloaks – this is incredibly useful

Prav's Magic

Prav's magic is centered around water and is obtained at the beginning of Chapter 9. It's not extremely powerful, but it has lots of utility, as a spell set. It's biggest strength is in dealing with large groups of enemies.

Prav's basic attack uses balls of water that generate whenever Frey has the spell set equipped. They're quite accurate, but not extremely useful overall.

Attack Spells

  • Fan Bolt is a serviceable spell – it's designed to take on clustered groups of enemies and deals a fair amount of damage. When upgraded, the attack has a very impressive width.
  • Chain Bolt is probably Prav's strongest and most reliable spell. It can only target one enemy at a time but deals a lot of damage. It also has incredible range and speed, making it a good choice for flying enemies.
  • Cluster Bolt will call down a rain of projectiles from the sky. This spell isn't that reliable, even with huge groups of enemeis.

Support Spells

  • Naedre will poison an enemy. This is fantastic for bulky enemies and anything troublesome in general – just be wary of enemies who are immune to poison. Examine them with Cuff to find out if they're immune.
  • Maelstrom summons a highly-damaging torrent of water from the ground. If positioned correctly, it can do a lot of damage, but enemies are generally great at avoiding it. Not that useful.
  • Brume fires a ball of water that explodes in steam, temporarily hiding your presence from any enemies caught in it. This can be used to make a quick getaway or set up a surprise attack.
  • Eagre creates a short-lived barrier of water around you, pushing enemies away. This is a very decent defensive move that also deals a respectable amount of damage.
  • Ablution will remove a status that slows down your stamina recovery. This is less useful than other status ailment removers.
  • Inundation improves Frey's critical hit rate. It's hard to tell just how effective this is, but it can't hurt to use it during tough battles.
  • Oubliette is a two-stage attack. First, you can trap enemies in a very large bubble, taking them out of the battle for a while. Second, you can strike the bubble to make it explode. The damage is decent and it has lots of situational uses, just be aware that many large enemies are totally immune to it.
  • Alb will protect Frey from a single Piercing or Unblockable attack. It's incredibly useful when you're up against the toughest enemies in the game, like Mutants or Abominations.

Movement Spells

  • Glide allows Frey to travel over water quickly. This is very situational, but it's useful to enhance it early to prepare for those situations.
  • Float is a crucial movement skill for saving you from fall damage and reaching difficult ledges. Get it as soon as you have access to Visoria.
  • Up and Away launches Frey into the air. She can't do much but fall after that, so it's not useful for platforming, but it does replenish her projectile supply.

Passive Spells

  • Fortify allows you to increase the defense stats of cloaks and necklaces. This is the key to surviving the toughest battles in the game without having any issues.

Olas's Magic

The final spell set you'll acquire in Forspoken is Olas's Magic, which is themed around thunder and lightning. There are lots of utilitarian spells based around gaining control of the battlefield and running circles around your foes.

Olas's basic attack will fire very weak but very fast and accurate darts at your enemies. These will 'mark' them, making them take a lot of extra damage from your main attack spells. The longer you charge an attack spell, the more marks will get targeted.

Attack Spells

  • Pulse Dart will fire lightning into the air that arcs to strike any marked enemies. This attack has incredible speed and range.
  • Storm Dart releases damaging pulses over a very wide area, before shocking that area with a strong attack when the trigger is released. This is one of the best attack moves in the game thanks to how strong and consistent it is.
  • Seeker Dart is useful when you're able to put marks on multiple enemies.

Support Spells

  • Distortion is a large attack that causes confusion, making enemies attack each other. This is great for taking some enemies out of a fight for a while and should be used when things get very hectic.
  • Aggression is a simple, fast attack that also marks enemies. It's a good spell for weaving in between normal attacks.
  • Projection, like the above Aggression, is a simple spell that is very good for getting some extra damage in between charged attacks. It has a good area-of-effect.
  • Compulsion summons floating mines that travel forward. This spell is best used against larger enemies.
  • Sublimation absorbs health from nearby enemies. The effects are pretty negligible.
  • Compensation grants you a higher Surge Magic recharge rate when you evade attacks using Flow. As you should be doing this almost constantly, using this spell a lot is a no-brainer.
  • Displacement creates a double that distracts enemies. This is useful when you're in a defenseless state after Cuff breaks.

Movement Spells

  • Scale allows you to gain a ton of height. This, paired with Float, is key to trivializing some platforming challenges.
  • Spoof is a backward somersault that leaves a copy of yourself behind. It's like Displacement, but less useful.
  • Hide and Seek allows you to move past and through enemies quickly, while also damaging them. It is useful once you've practiced using it.

Passive Spells

  • Diversify allows you to add a fourth skill to necklaces. This makes it definitely worth grabbing.

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